Safe Food Mela was hosted by prominent organic outlets, organic farmer groups, safe food campaigners at Semmozhi Poonga (formerly known as Woodlands Drive-in), Chennai on 24 June 2012. The aim of the mela was to create awareness on

• uses of organic foods including fresh greens, vegetables, fruits.
• availability of traditional rice, millets.
• kitchen, terrace, urban gardening.
• pesticides used in our food and the side effects caused.
• Genetically Modified foods.

Some of the Safe Food campaigners are: India for Safe Food, Safe Food Alliance, ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture).

Here are some photographs of the Safe Food Mela.

Organic peanuts, pure palm sugar, amla candy, organic food supplement for children, organic brown rice etc., for sale and display.

Greenpeace stall on Genetically Modified foods.

Varagu (kodo millet), bajra flour, powdered jaggery, sprouted ragi flour, thinai (foxtail millet) etc., for sale and display.

Organic filter coffee, herbal tea, peanut butter, handmade herbal (tulsi), turmeric, aloe vera, jasmine soap etc., for sale and display.

Mappillai samba boiled rice, rice upma mix, white ponni raw rice, organic traditional rice flour, homemade fryums, snacks etc., for sale and display.

Organic extra virgin olive oil, green arappu powder, lemon fresh laundry powder, herbal (amla, hibiscus) soups, papaya etc., for sale and display.

Variety of pesticide-free greens for sale and display.

Brown/black rice, hill honey for sale and display.

Organic idli podi, organic chilli, pepper flavoured roasted peanuts, cashew nuts, other snacks etc for sale and display.

Variety of seeds for display and sale.

Spend your time to produce organic safe food in your kitchen, terrace garden.

Visitors

Thakkali Thokku is a typical Indian pickle/chutney/spread. It goes well with rice, roti, idli, dosa, bread and so on. As a spread this suits to all Indian food as a side dish. I prepare this mostly when tomatoes are available at lesser price during the season. This can be preserved in refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks. Without refrigeration this has to be consumed within a week.

Tomato is known as Thakkali (தக்காளி) in Tamil.

Ingredients

• Tomato (sour variety) – 12 no
• Green chilli – 15 no (adjust as per need)
• Asafetida powder – half teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – quarter teaspoon
• Tamarind paste – quarter teaspoon
• Sugar – 1 teaspoon
• Pickle powder – 1 tablespoon (one teaspoon fenugreek, half teaspoon each of cumin and mustard; all roasted and powdered)
• Salt – as per need
• For seasoning
  • Mustard – 1 teaspoon
  • Curry leaves – few
  • Sesame oil – 5 tablespoon

Method

• Chop tomato, green chilli; grind together tomato, green chilli, turmeric powder, asafetida powder, salt and tamarind paste to a fine paste.

• Heat a wide pan with 4 tablespoon of oil; do seasoning with mustard and curry leaves; add the ground paste.

• Let it boil and keep stirring at short intervals till the paste is reduced to half the quantity by volume.

• Add sugar, pickle powder and keep cooking.

• Add remaining one tablespoon oil and cook till the mixer leaves the pan without sticking.

• Cool it to room temperature and store. Serve as a side dish.

Custard is a simple, easy to prepare dessert. The fruit custard is a less-fat, milk based healthy dessert. It tastes divine in summer, as it is chilled and served. Everyone including children likes this custard.

As custard powder is readily available in market in different flavors, it can be prepared easily at home at short notice. Other ingredients like milk, sugar and fruits (better to use seasonal fruits) are generally available at home.

Ingredients

• Milk – 500 ml
• Sugar – 4 tablespoon or as per need
• Custard powder – 3 tablespoon
• Chopped pistachio – 1 tablespoon
• Chopped apple – half cup
• Pomegranate – half cup
• Chopped papaya – half cup
• Chopped water melon – 2 tablespoon
• Seedless black grapes – 20 to 25 no
• Banana (ripe) – 1 no

Method

• Boil 250 ml of milk; add sugar and mix well; meanwhile add custard powder in remaining 250 ml of milk and mix well; slowly add this custard powder (dissolved in milk) in the boiling milk.

• Keep stirring, cook for few minutes; when the mixer becomes thick and looks glaze, remove (or follow the instructions given by the custard powder manufacturer).

• Cool and keep it in the refrigerator for few hours; just before serving add chopped fruits, nuts.

• Now Colorful Mixed Fruit Custard is ready.

• You can garnish with some mixed fruits to make it more attractive and then serve.

Tips

• Custard looks colorful when mixed fruits are added.
• Chopped nuts are added to increase the nutritional value and taste.
• If you refrigerate after mixing fruits in the custard, it may become watery.

Gatte Ki Kadhi is a wonderful side dish. This dish comes very handy when there is sudden shortage of vegetables. Curd, gram flour and spices are used to prepare this colourful kadhi. This Rajastani delicacy suits well with rice or chapati. Though the list of ingredients is long, all the ingredients are generally available at home and it can be prepared in short time.

There may be slight variations in spices, as it varies from home to home in preparing this kadhi.

Ingredients

• For gatte
  • Gram flour (besan) – 1 cup
  • Turmeric powder – pinch
  • Red chilli powder – half teaspoon
  • Cooking soda – pinch
  • Carom seeds – few
  • Thick curd – 2 tablespoon
  • Salt – as per need
  • Cooking oil – 2 tablespoon
• For gravy and seasoning
  • Thick curd – 1 cup
  • Gram flour (besan) – 1 tablespoon
  • Turmeric powder – quarter teaspoon
  • Coriander powder – one tablespoon
  • Red chilli powder – quarter teaspoon or as per need
  • Garam masala powder – half teaspoon
  • Red chilli – 2 no
  • Mustard – quarter teaspoon
  • Cumin – quarter teaspoon
  • Bay leaf – one
  • Garlic – 2 no
  • Green chilli – 1 no
  • Ginger -  small piece
  • Curry leaves – few
  • Coriander leaves – 2 tablespoon chopped
  • Asafetida – generous pinch
  • Salt – as per need
  • Oil – 2 tablespoon

Method

Preparation of Gatte

• Mix all the listed ingredients well.

• If needed add few drops of water to knead it to little stiff dough; roll it with greased hands to the shape of a thick rope/cylinder (approximately 6 inches long and 1 inch thick).

• Heat 4 cups of water in a wide pan; when it starts boiling, add gatte in it; boil in full flame till gatte floats on the top; this may take 7 to 8 minutes; remove gatte from water; cut into small pieces and keep the boiled water for latter use to prepare gravy.

Gravy and Seasoning for Gatte

• Chop ginger, garlic, green chilli and coriander leaves; add gram flour with curd and mix well.

• Add the water used for boiling gatte and beat well; you can adjust the consistency by adding some more water; heat oil in a pan; add mustard, cumin, red chilli and bay leaf.

• When mustard splutter well, add asafetida; then add ginger, green chilli, garlic and curry leaves; fry for few seconds or till golden in colour; add red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder.

• Fry for 2 seconds (care must be taken not to burn the spices); add beaten curd.

• Add gatte; let it boil for few minutes; this helps gatte to be little soft; stir in between.

• Add salt and mix well; sprinkle coriander leaves; now Gatte Ki Kadhi is ready.

• Serve hot with rice or roti.

Pickle is a necessary side dish in all the Indian meals. Indian Cuisine is very famous for its spicy hot pickles with variety of vegetables. These pickles differ in taste from region to region with unique taste and flavor. South Indian pickle tastes very different from a north Indian pickle. Every summer almost all homes are busy in preparing these pickles. We love the north Indian version of mango pickles for their nice flavor and mustard oil taste.

This Aam ka Achar – North Indian Green Mango Pickle/Maangai Oorukai needs to be prepared in two phases (Preparation and Seasoning).

Mango is known as Manngai (மாங்காய்) in Tamil and as Aam in Hindi. Pickle is known as Oorukai/urugai (ஊறுகாய்) in Tamil and as Achar in Hindi.

Phase I: Preparation of Mango for Pickle

Ingredients

• Raw mango (pickle variety) – 4 no (approximately one kilo or 50 cut pieces)
• Crystal salt – half cup
• Turmeric powder – 1 tablespoon

Method

• Wash mangoes well; wipe and cut mangoes; remove seeds as these seeds are not needed.

• Add crystal salt and turmeric with mango pieces; mix well and keep it for two to three days to marinate; toss it daily twice.

• As salt slowly dissolves, you can see the juice coming out from mango pieces; pick up mango pieces and sun dry them for 6 to 7 hours (drying time will be in days if you want to dry it with juice).

• Now it is ready for seasoning.

Phase II: Seasoning of Mango Pickle

Ingredients

• Fennel seeds – 2 tablespoon
• Fenugreek seeds – 1 tablespoon
• Nigella seeds/kalonji (in Hindi)/karum jeeragam (in Tamil) – 1 teaspoon
• Red chilli powder – 2 tablespoon (can be adjusted as per taste)
• Turmeric powder – half teaspoon
• Asafetida – half teaspoon
• Salt – half tablespoon
• Mustard oil – 1 cup

Method

• Partially pound fennel and fenugreek seeds; add all listed ingredients (including pounded fennel/fenugreek seeds and mustard oil) to the sun dried marinated mangoes; toss well, cover and keep it over night.

• From the next day onwards cover the pickle with a net or clean thin cloth and keep it in bright sunlight for 3 to 6 days; daily toss/mix it with a dry spoon twice minimum.

• Now Aam ka Achar – North Indian Green Mango Pickle/Maangai Oorukai is ready for use.

• Keep it in a sterilized bottle to preserve it even for an year. Serve it with curd rice/chapati.

Tips

• Once in a while keep the pickle in sunlight to sustain the shelf life.
• For better shelf life, the oil level should be half to one inch above the mango pieces.

Cauliflower and potato are the best combo to make a side dish more popular among guests. Here is Spicy Cauliflower and Potato (Aloo Gobi) Fry, a different stir fry to match as a side dish to all Indian food.

Cauliflower is known as ‘phool gobi’ and potato is known as ‘aloo’ in Hindi.

I used cauliflower florets more, to make this dish tasty and attractive.

Ingredients

• Medium size cauliflower chopped – 1 no
• Potato – 2 no
• Onion – 1 no
• Turmeric powder – ¼ (quarter) teaspoon
• Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
• Coriander powder – 1 tablespoon
• Coriander leaves – few to garnish
• Salt – as per need
• To wet grind
  • Grated coconut – ½ (half) cup
  • Green chilli – 3 no
  • Fennel seed – 1 teaspoon
• For seasoning
  • Cinnamon – small piece
  • Cloves – 4 no
  • Curry leaves – few
  • Oil – 1 tablespoon

Method

• Soak chopped cauliflower in salt added warm water for 5 to 10 minutes then drain and keep; wet grind items given, to a coarse paste.

• Chop potato, onion and pound cinnamon, clove coarsely.

• Heat a pan and do seasoning with cinnamon-clove coarse powder and curry leaves; add chopped onions.

• Fry till onion turns semi transparent; add chopped potatoes.

• Fry for few minutes and then add cauliflower.

• Mix well and add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder.

• Stir for few seconds; add half cup of water.

• Cover and cook till potato and cauliflower are soft; now add the ground paste and mix.

• Cook for few more minutes till all the spices blend together.

• Remove,  garnish with coriander leaves.

• Serve hot with rice/roti/poori etc.

Sweet potato is a starchy, sweet root vegetable used in many cuisines. The sweet potato looks pink outside and slightly yellow/white inside. It contains beta carotene and some minerals. Sweet potato can be boiled and served as snack. As it tastes sweet, children like it very much.

Sweet potato is known as ‘Sarkarai Valli Kizhangu’ (சர்க்கரை வள்ளி கிழங்கு) in Tamil and as ‘Shakarkand’ in Hindi.

Ingredients

• Sweet potatoes – 500 gram
• Salt – generous pinch

Method

• Wash and cut sweet potatoes.

• Boil in salt added water till soft.

• Drain and allow it to cool.

• Peel the skin and serve.

Tips

• You can even sprinkle some chat masala and then serve.

We know that corn can be used to produce automobile fuel ethanol.

Now Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile producer is working on using cornstarch to make car body parts to improve safety of the vehicle. They have found that cornstarch can increase the crash resistance of cars. This can save the occupants of the car in case of an accident.

Tata Motors is already using cornstarch based material in small cars for proto-testing. It is expected to be a reality by the end of 2012.

Read more from Tata Group: Now, drive cars built on cornstarch.

Cakes taste better when we add fruits. Fresh fruits make the cake softer and flavorful.

Here I baked Eggless Orange Raisin and Pistachio Cake with fresh orange juice and orange zest. This orange cake was so soft and every member of my family loved it very much.

I used a fresh orange to extract juice and orange zest.

Ingredients

• All purpose flour – 1½ (one and half) cup
• Fresh orange juice  –  ½ (half) cup
• Powdered Sugar – ¾ (three by fourth) to 1 cup (adjust as per sweetness of orange juice)
• Salt-less butter – ⅓ (one third) cup
• Warm water – ½ (half) cup
• Orange zest – 1 tablespoon
• Roasted Semolina/rava – 1 heaped tablespoon
• Baking powder – 1½ (one and half) teaspoon
• Baking soda – ¾ (three by fourth) teaspoon
• Pistachio and raisins, chopped – 1 tablespoon each
• Saffron colour – pinch
• Salt – pinch

Method

• Sieve all purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder in a bowl; add chopped pistachio, raisins, orange zest, powdered sugar, saffron colour, semolina and mix well.

• Bring the butter to room temperature; add warm water, orange juice and beat well; add with the flour and mix well; the cake mix is now ready.

• Grease a baking mold, dust with flour; pour cake mix and ensure that it spreads evenly.

• Bake it at 180 degree Celsius for 30 to 40 minutes or till a tooth pick comes out clean when you check.

• Now Eggless Orange Raisin and Pistachio Cake is ready.

• Allow it to cool and cut into pieces.

• Serve this simple orange flavored cake.

Tips

• This cake is likely to be more moist and soft as fresh orange juice and orange zest is used.

Tapioca pancake is easy to make as the ingredients needed are normally available at home.

Tapioca is called as Kappa Kizhangu (கப்ப கிழங்கு) or Maravalli Kizhangu (மரவள்ளி கிழங்கு) in Tamil.

I used grated tapioca in this pancake. You can easily wash, peel the skin and grate tapioca as shown below:

Ingredients

• Skin peeled and grated tapioca – 2 cup
• Rice – half cup
• Toor dal – 1 heaped tablespoon
• Bengal gram – 1 heaped tablespoon
• Urad dal skinned – 1 heaped tablespoon
• Fennel seed – 1 heaped table spoon
• Garlic – 2 cloves
• Red chilli – 4 no
• Curry leaves – few
• Salt – as per need
• Oil – to cook pancakes

Method

• Soak rice, toor dal, Bengal gram and urad dal together for two hours; now grind soaked rice, dal, garlic, red chilli, half of fennel seeds and salt coarsely.

• Now add grated tapioca and run mixer for few seconds; the batter should to be thick and of pouring consistency (add little water if needed to adjust consistency).

• Add curry leaves, remaining fennel seeds and mix well; spread the batter on a hot griddle or tawa; make a small hole in the center of pancake and pour few drops of oil to make it more crisp in the center also.

• Sprinkle little oil and cook both sides in medium heat.

• Remove when golden in colour and crisp.

• Serve hot with any chutney.

Tips

• The batter for pancake can be prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator to prepare easily when needed.